George Maris believes that Cambridge United are moving in the right direction after bouncing back in the Checkatrade Trophy in midweek.

The U’s shock FA Cup exit was met by an impressive display in midweek in the much-maligned trophy competition, during which the midfielder came on as a second-half substitute.

Before the match the U’s were in good form, though, winning three of their previous five games.

And while their recent wins haven’t come as a result of vintage football, Maris said the most important thing is that they are picking up points again.

“We were doing well before the game at Guiseley, so I suppose you could say it came as a bit of a shock with our form leading up to that,” he said.

“It was a blow, so we all had to pick ourselves up to go again as we did against a strong Colchester side which was good.

“We’ve picked up some good results and haven’t played the best so maybe once we start playing our best football we can keep picking up the points.

He continued: “I’ll take playing like that for the rest of the season (if we keep getting points)! At the start of the season we were playing some really good football but we’d lose by one or something like that but now we seem to be digging in a bit more.

“The sides we have played, Macclesfield and Grimsby, have been down there with us so it has been a bit of a dog fight at times.

“To pick up six points out of them two is a massive step in the right direction.”

The midfielder had a slow start to the season after his move to Rotherham fell through at the last minute, but he reiterated that he is fully committed to the club and not looking at what could happen in January or beyond.

“Ever since I’ve come back to Cambridge I’ve felt fine,” he said.

“This is where I’ve been for the last two-and-a-half years so I’ve always felt settled.

“As soon as I came back and started playing games nothing was on my mind other than playing for Cambridge. I’ve just kept my head down and played as many games as I can and hopefully it continues.

“I don’t think you can look anywhere else, I’m a Cambridge player.

“I’ll continue to be (a Cambridge player) until I am otherwise. I’m looking forward to the rest of the season and hopefully we’ll continue picking up the points and seeing where we can get in the table.”

Another one of his midfield partners, Jevani Brown, also had a difficult start to his second year at the club.

Although he is in fine form at the minute, illness meant he missed a large chunk of pre-season and the first few games of the campaign.

The pair’s reciprocal relationship was a key part in United’s late season form during Joe Dunne’s interim period, though, and Maris believes they can get back to that level of consistency.

“Me and Jevani are similar in the way we play, I play deeper than him so he gives me a good option when I’m on the ball,” he said.

“Ever since he came to the football club it feels like we’ve known how each other play.

“He’s played well this season, he’s got a lot of goals and assists so hopefully the more he’s on form the more I’m on form.

“I know a lot of my goals last season were set up in some respect by Jevani or I did one for him, that’s the way we started to go towards the end of last season, so hopefully we can do it together.”

He added: “I didn’t really play much with Jevani at the start of the season.

“I know it’s just two players but I know Joe likes me to play with Jevani so as soon as he came back from his illness and he was fit again he was back to his best.”